in the storybook
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Oneshots about Jefferson
1. to endlessly wonder whatever happened

Title: to endlessly wonder whatever happened to the night, the dark and mastered air

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Diane Lockward

Warnings: AUish; references to violence

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 610

Point of view: third

Prompt: any, any, "You can't just build a boat and hope darkness magically sails away in it."

* * *

><p>Rochelle dies in Regina's realm and it is a warning that Jefferson heeds. Their daughter cries as Jefferson carries her away, and the hatbox is heavier than it should be on his back.<p>

He swears as he walks to never use it again.

.

Grace doesn't understand why all her toys are gone, why her mother's jewelry is no longer there, why they can't live in their manor anymore. Most of all, she doesn't understand where Rochelle is. She sobs herself to sleep because Jefferson doesn't sing the songs right, doesn't have her very favorite story memorized quite the way Rochelle did, and cannot cook Grace's breakfast pastries the same way.

He does his best and he knows it is not enough.

.

Rumplestiltskin tries to hire him for a job. Jefferson says no.

Regina sends word that she has a task for him. Jefferson grabs Grace and runs again.

.

He wishes he could bury the hat and forget the location but he knows that would be unsafe. Things that are hidden are always found, and the rules are simple, unbreakable.

So no matter where they go, he brings with him the hat and he keeps the vow to never use it.

.

Grace stops asking for her mother.

Regina stops seeking him.

.

For seven years, Jefferson lives the life of a pauper, happy with his daughter. He forages for mushrooms, which Grace knows about, and pickpockets travelers, which she doesn't. He was a thief long before he mastered the hat.

But Regina knows how to strike where it hurts, and his weakest points, as she always did.

.

The Queen of Hearts is evil in a way Regina isn't.

There are a dozen people Jefferson actively hates, and he dreams of tearing them all apart while he makes hat after hat after hat.

.

It never works in Wonderland, of course. Jefferson's magic never has there.

But he wakes up in a land called Maine with the memories of two lives in his head, and he watches every year as the odd technology grows ever more intricate. He learns much, studies the town and all its inhabitants, and he sleeps.

.

With hindsight, he figures it all out.

He should have used the hat one last time and gone to a world no one else could reach. The rules are simple. Unbreakable. He broke them and this is his punishment.

.

Rochelle died, and with her Jefferson's will to fight. Meeting her had changed him from a rogue into a good man, and losing her… Regina tells him he doesn't have it in him to kill. He did, once. He did terrible things. Regina knew him as a thief, and so did Rumplestiltskin. The Queen of Hearts knew him as a hatter.

He's done nothing for over thirty years.

.

"Papa!" Grace shouts and he scoops her up, holds her as tight as he can.

There is magic again, and the rules are both unbreakable and simple.

.

There once was a boy who found a magic hat haunted by a ghost; the ghost told him the rules and guided him through the first few jumps. The ghost warned him, too, about what would happen if the rules were broken.

Jefferson has spent long enough doing nothing.

.

Regina once told him he didn't have the strength to kill. The Queen of Hearts called him a fool and a coward.

He has his daughter back and now the Queen of Hearts is in the same world as her, and that is unacceptable.

.

"Magic has a price," the ghost tells the broken man who was once a laughing boy.

"I've already paid it," the man replies, flipping the hat onto his head.


	2. tricks of the blood

Title: the magician played me tricks of the blood

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

Warnings: AUish – written with only knowledge of season 2

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 740

Point of view: third

Prompt: Any, any/any, _When you get that look nobody is safe / it's why I first fell in love with you_

* * *

><p>When Jefferson first met the Dark One, he was apprehensive, of course. The most powerful creature of darkness in all the lands, summoning Jefferson for a contract?<p>

To be utterly honestly, Jefferson was a little disappointed to meet the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin was dangerous, yes, but easy enough to deal with – even when making deals.

"There is more to you than meets the eye, portal-jumping thief," Rumplestiltskin mused once.

Jefferson had laughed.

.

Rumplestiltskin arranged for the heartbreak of the young, magic-learning queen. Jefferson played his part dutifully because the pay was good.

Not long after, he heard that the young queen had become a terrifying force of darkness, and he smiled.

.

"Do you know what you're doing?" his mother asks from the other side of the mirror.

"Exactly what you wanted me to," he says, smirking at her.

She shakes her head. "I have everything under control. Cease this madness at once."

He laughs, loud and long, and turns away from the mirror, and said, "Should have thought of that years ago."

.

Jefferson has a daughter. No one ever met her mother. He moved into the cottage with an infant and told everyone the mother had died suddenly.

She died, but it wasn't sudden. It was the price she paid for the deal.

He does love the girl. He named her Grace for an old saying: _there but for the grace go I_.

.

When the queen traps him in Wonderland, Jefferson knows it is his punishment. He'd always known it was coming.

When the queen cuts off his head and orders him to make a portal, he knows that is his punishment, too.

.

"You can end this," his mother says from the other side of the mirror. "You know that you can."

The hatter is mad. The portal jumper is broken.

It is his mother's son who raises his head and bares his teeth and turns away and away and away.

.

In Storybrooke, he sleeps for years. His mind was never at rest in Wonderland. But in Storybrooke, there is nothing to do but rest and study.

There is no ambient magic in Storybrooke, only that which resides in skin and blood. His third and final punishment is that he remembers when no one else does, not even the queen or the imp. Only the mad, portal-jumping hatter.

He knows his mother. This is not only _his_ punishment.

.

The miller's daughter is named Regina. Her mother's plan is to ensure her name comes true.

What only the mother knows is that she carried twin children to term and bore them both unto the world on a night of no moon.

.

The Curse breaks. Everyone remembers. Magic fills the air.

"You arrogant child," his mother hisses from the mirror.

He spins the hat and smiles.

.

"Jefferson," Regina says, before her heart breaks, before she is queen, before she is anything but a girl who dreams of happiness. "I cannot trust my mother."

"No," he agrees, "you can't."

.

Jefferson is an orphan who raises himself after escaping the orphanage. He begins as a pickpocket and graduates to magic with ease. He dreams of his mother; none of the dreams come true. His mother is a monster who watches him from mirrors, when she chooses to. He can never contact her first.

He knows he has a sister. She is kind-hearted. Soft. It'd break her to know her brother was cast out to find his own way at barely a day old.

He chooses the name Jefferson because it sounds strong and the name on his blanket is foolish.

.

The miller's granddaughter is named Regina and she does, indeed, become queen.

The miller's grandson is named Rex and nobody even knows he exists.

.

The mad portal-jumping hatter watches a ship draw close to shore. He has his darling Grace again.

His mother's plans were always so intricate, webs of lies woven together until nothing at all was clear. Rumplestiltskin and Regina's plots weren't quite as cluttered, but all of three meshed quite nicely together.

The funniest bit of all is that each of them needed a portal and someone daring (mad) enough to jump through.

.

Rex wasn't born with Regina's aptitude for magic but he did have a small talent of his own, and, honestly... a hat is a hat is a hat.

The Queen of Hearts has come to Storybrooke. The Dark One and the Evil Queen are already present.

The board is set.


	3. mirror 'verse

Title: mirror 'verse

Disclaimer: not my charcters

Warnings: AU

Pairings: Jefferson/Grace's mother, Rumpelstiltskin/Belle

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 430

Point of view: third

Prompt: Once Upon a Time, any/any or gen, AU with reverse morality - the heroes/heroines are all evil and cruel and the villains are actually good

* * *

><p>After Rochelle dies, Jefferson tries to take Grace and hide away somewhere. The problem, of course, is that he'd made himself too useful, played both sides. The World Walker, they call him, jumping through portals and landing in other worlds.<p>

A man with too much power to stay gone for good. Regina's resistance could use him, her wolf says, and then the Pale Queen's wolf promises a life of luxury for him and his daughter.

Rochelle died on a job for the Pale Queen; Jefferson had been somewhere else, delivering a family to safety for Regina. Neither of them concerned themselves with 'right' and 'wrong,' only with payment.

Rochelle is dead and Jefferson's morals boil down to what will keep his daughter safe.

He goes to Rumpelstiltskin.

.

Rumpelstiltskin does not lie; he merely withholds the truth wherever appropriate.

For his daughter's sake, Jefferson needs to be on the winning side.

"I could use a man of your talents," Rumpelstiltskin says. "Name your price."

Jefferson says, "Whatever you have in the works – I'll help you with it, whatever you need. As long as my daughter makes it through whole, safe, and alive."

Rumpelstiltskin smirks, toothy and wide. "You have a deal."

.

For Rumpelstiltskin, Jefferson continues playing both sides, aiding Regina one week and the Pale Queen the next. Regina's sanctuary camps swell full with refugees, and the Pale Queen's forces continue the hunt.

Word comes that the Pale Queen is pregnant and Rumpelstiltskin cackles for a full minute.

"At last, dearie," he says when he's calm. "At long last."

"Right then," Jefferson says. "If you have no further need of me today, I'm going to see my daughter."

"Of course, of course." Rumpelstiltskin waves dismissively. "She's out in the garden with Belle."

Jefferson nods, putting his hat in the box and then locking both away in Rumpelstiltskin's ensorcelled pocket-realm. It's as safe as it can be.

.

Grace shouts, "Papa!" and runs to him. Belle follows with a smile.

"All done for the day?" Belle asks as Jefferson scoops Grace up and spins her around.

"He seemed particularly happy that the Pale Queen is expecting," Jefferson says. Belle seems neither surprised nor concerned, so Jefferson decides to ignore it until Rumpelstiltskin makes it his business. "Now then," Jefferson says, setting Grace down. "My Lady Grace, what do you have planned for this evening?"

He follows his daughter into the garden, listening to her chatter about basilisks and phoenixes, her playmates in Rumpelstiltskin's territory. Grace is safe here, under the Dark One's protection, and whatever the end, Jefferson knows that's the only thing that matters.


End file.
